Kuldhara Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
  • Prepare the Gameboard
  • Prepare your Player Components
  • Prepare the Jewelry Cards
  • Ready to Begin?
• Gameplay
• Player Turn
  • Passing
  • Play a Turn
• Step 1: Perform 1 or 2 Actions (Mandatory!)
  • Travel
  • Dig for Gemstones
  • Unload Gemstones
  • Reserve a Jewelry Card
  • 1st Example of a Turn
  • 2nd Turn Example
• Step 2: Use Tools
• Step 3: Create Jewelry
  • Example: Making Jewelry
• Step 4: Replenishing Jewelry Cards
• End of your Turn
• End of a Phase
• End of the Game
• Player Aid: Tool Overview
• Solo Mode
  • Phase Overview
  • Your Turn
  • Kadhan's Turn
    • Step 1: Draw a Card
    • Step 2: Make Jewelry
    • Step 3: Replenishing Jewelry Cards
  • End of a Phase
  • End of the Game
• Additional Challenges for the Solo Game
  • Kadhan Awakens: Level 1 Challenges
  • Wrath of Khadan: Level 2 Challenges

Components

• 50 Gemstones (in 5 colors)
• 41 Protection tiles (in 5 colors)
• 20 Tool tokens (in 4 colors)
• 1 Game Board with a rotating disk
• 4 Camels
• 4 Water tokens
• 1 Round tracker
• 1 Start token
• 66 Jewelry cards (3 levels)
• 4 Workbenches with rotating disk
• Kadhan's Workbench (for solo mode)
• 8 Player aids
• 4 Start Jewelry cards
• 18 Solo cards (2 types)

Goal of the Game

As a treasure hunter, you'll search the ruins of Kuldhara for lost gemstones to craft into jewelry. Manage your water supply carefully, because under the blazing sun, your actions are limited. Every action costs water, so smart planning is essential.

Once you've collected enough gemstones, return to the camp to craft jewelry. The treasure hunter who forges the most valuable jewelry before sunset wins the game!

Setup

Prepare the Gameboard

1. Place the board (A) in the center of the table.
2. Set the game board dial (B) to the "morning" position (orient the pointer on the disk towards the Morning icon) and set the Round tracker (C) on round 1.
3. Randomly distribute the gemstone chests (D) across the different ruins, one color per ruin. Place all corresponding gemstones in the chests.
4. Sort the Protection tiles (E) by color and place them in five stacks on the game board.

Prepare your Player Components

5. Each player chooses a color and receives the corresponding Workbench with dial (F), tool tokens (G), and camel (H).
6. All players place their tool tokens on the left side of their Workbench (G).
7. Each player places their camel in the camp at the center of the board (H).
8. All players also receive one Water token (I). Everyone places it on space 15 of their water track.

Prepare the Jewelry Cards

9. Take the 4 Start Jewelry cards (J), shuffle them, and give each player one at random. Players place the gemstones shown on the card in the three central spaces of their player board (K). All Start Jewelry cards are then returned to the box.
10. Divide the Jewelry cards into three decks based on level (1, 2, and 3). Shuffle each deck and place them face-down on the board (L).
11. Then lay out four level 1 Jewelry cards, four level 2 cards, and two level 3 cards face-up on the board.
12. On the reserved spaces on the board (M).

Ready to Begin?

13. Give each player a game overview card (N).
14. The player who most recently visited a ruin receives the Starting Player token (O).

First Time Playing? Kuldhara can become a challenging puzzle. For more clarity, you can leave out the level 3 cards.

Gameplay

The game takes place over four phases of the day, with the sun shifting position in each phase: 1: Morning, 2: Midday, 3: Afternoon, 4: Evening.

During each phase, players take turns performing a number of steps until everyone has passed. Each player starts a phase with 15 water. This water is used to perform actions. At the start of a new phase, refill their water to 15. After the fourth phase, the game ends and players count the points from their crafted jewelry.

Player Turn

At the beginning of a turn, choose to pass or play your turn.

Passing

You may pass if you no longer want to perform any actions. If you run out of water, you must pass. When you pass, place your water droplet on 0 (if you haven't already). You're out for the rest of this phase. The other players continue until everyone has passed. Were you the first to pass this phase? Then you receive the Starting Player token.

Play a Turn

If you play a turn you follow these steps. Step 1 is mandatory, the others are optional:

• Step 1: Perform 1 or 2 actions (Mandatory!)
• Step 2: Use Tools
• Step 3: Craft Jewelry
• Step 4: Refill Jewelry Cards

Step 1: Perform 1 or 2 Actions (Mandatory!)

You must perform 1 or 2 actions on your turn. You may choose the same action twice. If you cannot perform any action, you automatically pass. So keep a close eye on your water supply—if you run out, you cannot perform actions for the rest of the phase. Your actions are:

• Travel
• Dig for Gemstones
• Unload Gemstones
• Reserve a Jewelry Card

Travel

Move your camel to any location on the board. You spend water for the entire route you take. Note that if you pass multiple locations, the water cost is the total for the full distance (see 1st example).

Dig for Gemstones

Dig up one or two gemstones from the ruin where your camel is located and place them on your camel (see 1st example). If there are no gemstones left at a ruin, tough luck—you can't dig up any more of that color. The water cost per gemstone depends on its size:

• Small (orange or red): costs 1 water.
• Medium (green or blue): costs 2 water.
• Large (purple): costs 3 water.

Note: Your camel has limited space. There are six slots available for gemstones. For example, you can store six small gemstones, or one large, one medium, and one small gemstone. If there is no more space for the gemstone you want to dig up, you cannot perform this action and must first unload your gemstones (see action Unload Gemstones).

Unload Gemstones

Costs 1 water.

To unload gemstones, your camel must be back at the camp in the center of the mainboard. You may then move one or more gemstones from your camel to your Workbench. Each unloaded gemstone must be placed in a hexagonal space on your player board that does not already contain a gemstone (see 2nd example).

This action costs 1 water, regardless of the number of gemstones you unload.

Note: Once gemstones are placed on your Workbench, you cannot move their positions anymore. Later in the game, you may use one of your five tool tokens to rearrange them (see Step 2). So think carefully about placement when unloading.

Reserve a Jewelry Card

Costs 1 water.

There are two ways to reserve a Jewelry card:

A. Take one of the face-up Jewelry cards from the board.

B. Draw the top three cards from a deck of your choice. You may choose one to reserve, but you are not required to. If you choose a card, place the remaining two at the bottom of the deck. If you don't choose any, place all three back at the bottom of the deck.

Place the selected card on one of the two slots on the left side of your Workbench. You may have a maximum of two reserved Jewelry cards at any time (see 2nd example).

Remember that this action always costs 1 water, even if you only looked at three cards and put them all back.

Important: At the end of the game, the points on unfinished reserved Jewelry cards count as minus points toward your final score.

1st Example of a Turn

• Action 1: Travel. Senne moves their camel from ruin A to ruin B - paying 2 water to do so.
• Action 2: Dig up Gemstones. Senne grabs 1 purple gemstone and puts this on their camel. Now the camel is full - Senne will need to unload. Digging up 1 purple gemstone costs 3 water in total.
• Spending Water: Senne used 5 water this turn, so they adjust the Water token from the '15' to the '10' position.

2nd Turn Example

• Action 1: Unloading. Senne's camel returns to camp. Senne pays one water to unload the camel, and then places the gemstones onto their Workbench wherever a free space is available.
• Action 2: Reserving a Jewelry Card. Senne pays one water, choosing a level 3 Jewelry Card and placing it on their Workbench.
• Spending Water: This turn Senne used 2 water, so the Water token moves from the '8' to '6' place.

Step 2: Use Tools

You may spend a tool token to adjust your Workbench. You may use multiple tool tokens in this step, but each tool token allows for only one adjustment.

Note: Each tool token can only be used once. So at the beginning of a new round, they aren't returned to your workbench!

You can adjust your Workbench in the following ways:

• Transfer: Transfer the entire contents of one hexagon to an empty hexagon.
• Replace: Switch the entire contents of two hexagons with one another.
• Change Color: Change the entire contents of a hexagon to a different color. If the color you want to change to isn't available on the board, you cannot perform this action.
• Remove Gemstones: Remove the contents of 1, 2 or 3 hexagons on your Workbench.
• Water: Immediately gain 3 additional water.

Step 3: Create Jewelry

When the gemstones on your Workbench are in the correct pattern, you can create a piece of jewelry. Each gemstone and Protection tile in the pattern must be positioned exactly as shown on the Jewelry card. However, you may rotate and/or mirror the pattern (as indicated in the bottom left of the Jewelry card).

Important: The color of the gemstones and protection tiles must be in the same placement as shown on the jewelry card. You can have more protection tiles than indicated on a card, but never less than what is shown on said card.

Do you want to create a piece of jewelry? Use a Jewelry card from the board or one you've reserved and follow these steps:

1. Identify the pattern on your Workbench. Note: For level 2 and 3 cards, you need the corresponding Protection tile(s).
2. Take the matching Jewelry card and place it next to your Workbench.
3. If you've created a level 1 or 2 Jewelry card, you receive a Protection tile. This is indicated in the top right corner of those cards. You may choose a Protection tile from the supply on the main board (while stocks last). Place the tile on a space of your choice on your Workbench. This can be an empty space or a space with a gemstone of the same color. A Protection tile protects the gemstone on it for the rest of the game. You're not required to take a Protection tile, if you don't want to.
4. Remove all gemstones from your Workbench that were part of the created jewelry, except those that are now on a Protection tile. The removed gemstones are returned to the matching ruins.

On the level 3 cards, there is a white Protection tile with a white gemstone on it. To create this piece of jewelry, players must have a Protection tile (in a color of their choice) and a matching gemstone placed in that spot on their Workbench.

During your turn, you may create multiple pieces of jewelry. But for each piece created, complete all 4 steps before starting a new one.

Example: Making Jewelry

• A) Identifying the Pattern + Protection tile: Robbe has placed the gemstones in such a way that this piece of jewelry can be made. This piece grants a Protection tile, which is placed under the red gemstone. Robbe places the Jewelry card next to his Workbench to score at the end of the game. This card scores 2 points at the end of the game.
• B) Removing Gemstones: All gemstones without a Protection tile that were used to create the first piece of jewelry are removed.
• C) Creating a Second Piece of Jewelry: By placing the red Protection tile, Robbe can now also create the reserved piece of jewelry. For making this jewelry, Robbe receives a Protection tile. Robbe chooses a purple Protection tile.
• D) Removing Gemstones: Finally, Robbe returns the two used gemstones without a Protection tile to the supply. Robbe places the Jewelry card next to his Workbench to score at the end of the game.

Step 4: Replenishing Jewelry Cards

Replenish all Jewelry cards on the board.

End of your Turn

Your turn is over. The player to your left starts their turn. Players continue playing this way until everyone has passed.

End of a Phase

The current phase ends when all players have passed. If the phase just completed was Morning (Phase I), Midday (Phase II), or Afternoon (Phase III), a new phase begins:

1. Rotate the dial clockwise to the next position.
2. Advance the Round tracker one space to the next phase.
3. All players reset their Water Token to space 15 on the water track of their Workbench.
4. The player who passed first (and thus received the Starting Player token) begins the new phase.

If the just-completed phase was the Evening (Phase IV), night begins and the game ends.

Note: the printed English text lists the completed phases as "Morning (Phase I), Afternoon (Phase II), or Evening (Phase III)"; this is evidently a misprint, and the sequence is Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Evening as stated under Gameplay.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately after the evening phase. All players score their points as follows:

• Add up the points from all completed Jewelry cards (points are in the bottom-right corner of the cards).
• Earn 1 point per remaining tool token.
• Earn 1 point per 3 gemstones on your Workbench, regardless of its size.
• Earn 1 point if you have the starting player token.
• Subtract the points from Jewelry cards you've reserved but not completed (points are in the bottom-right corner of the cards).

The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most Protection tiles on their Workbench wins. If still tied, the players share the victory!

Player Aid: Tool Overview

1: Move (Transfer); 2: Swap (Replace); 3: Change color; 4: Empty 1-3 fields on your Workbench; 5: Receive 3 water.

Solo Mode

In solo play, you'll play against an automated opponent: Kadhan, the first person to ever settle in Kuldhara. To play the solo mode, you must know the standard rules of Kuldhara. If you haven't read them yet, please do that first. The setup of the central board and your own workbench is the same as in the standard game.

Kadhan has a special workbench (A). He does not receive a camel or any tool tokens. On his turn, you'll perform Kadhan's actions by drawing cards from Kadhan's deck. Follow these steps to set up Kadhan's workbench:

1. Choose a difficulty level: easy, standard, hard, or expert.
2. For standard, hard, and expert: Shuffle the ten gemstone cards of Kadhan's deck and divide them into three piles (B1). Shuffle one Protection tile card into each pile (B2), then stack the three piles face down on Kadhan's workbench (C). For easy: Divide the gemstone cards into two piles and use only two Protection tile cards.
3. Draw one of the Start Jewelry cards at random and place the gemstones shown on it onto Kadhan's workbench (D). The Start Jewelry card then goes back into the box.

Challenges: these cards are not needed unless you find the standard solo mode too easy. In that case, you can challenge yourself with these extra cards (see Additional Challenges below).

Phase Overview

Just like in the standard game, solo mode is played over the four phases of the day, with the sun moving position each time.

A phase continues until both of you have passed. If one of you has passed, the player who hasn't passed yet keeps taking turns one after the other until they do. When that happens, the current phase ends.

During the first phase, you are the starting player. In every following phase, the starting player is the one who passed first in the previous phase. You pass in the same way as in the standard game. Kadhan always passes at the start of his turn if there is no room left on his workbench for another card.

Your Turn

Your turn consists of the same 4 steps as in the base game, plus a possible 5th action depending on your chosen difficulty. The five steps are:

1. Perform 1 or 2 actions (required!)
2. Use tools
3. Make jewelry
4. Replenishing Jewelry cards
5. Activate Kadhan

Step 5: Activate Kadhan. If playing on hard or expert difficulty, look at the total value of the jewelry you made this turn:

• Hard: Activate Kadhan if you've scored 8 or more points.
• Expert: Activate Kadhan if you've scored 8 or less points.

If you did not make jewelry this turn, or you are playing on easy or standard, skip this step.

To activate Kadhan, flip the top card of Kadhan's draw pile, perform the action, and then place the card on his discard pile.

Kadhan's Turn

At the start of Kadhan's turn, check if there's still room on his workbench for another card. If all six spaces are occupied, Kadhan cannot continue playing and must pass, taking no more turns this phase (remember: if Kadhan is the first to pass, he receives the Starting Player token).

If there is still space, Kadhan follows these steps:

1. Draw a card
2. Make jewelry
3. Replenishing Jewelry cards

Step 1: Draw a Card

Draw the top card of Kadhan's deck, place it on the leftmost empty space on the workbench (cards are played from left to right), and perform the corresponding action. There are two types of cards:

A) Gemstone Card: Take the gemstone from the central board and place it on Kadhan's workbench. If Kadhan has an empty Protection tile of the same color, place the gemstone on the Protection tile.

B) Protection Tile Card: Take a Protection tile from the supply and place it on Kadhan's workbench (see example 1 and 2). Which one to take is decided as follows:

1. Check which colors of Protection tiles Kadhan does not yet have.* (*If he has all colors, see step 4.)
2. If he's missing only one color: Take that color Protection tile and place it on his Workbench. If Kadhan has an unprotected gemstone of the same color, place it on the Protection tile.
3. If he's missing more than one color: Choose the color with the most Protection tiles on the jewelry cards on the central board. Tie? Choose the color for which Kadhan currently has the fewest unprotected gemstones. Tie again? Follow this priority order: purple > blue > green > red > orange.
4. If Kadhan already has all colors: Then only look at the jewelry cards on the central board. Choose the color with the most Protection tiles on jewelry cards and take a Protection tile of that color. Tie? Use the same priority order as above: purple > blue > green > red > orange.

Note: When Kadhan's deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile and place it as the new draw pile on Kadhan's Workbench. Any cards drawn this phase that are still on Kadhan's Workbench remain there.

Example #1: Kadhan must take a Protection tile. The only color he doesn't have yet is orange. So Kadhan takes an orange Protection tile and places it on his Workbench.

Example #2: Kadhan must take a Protection tile. He does not yet have a blue, orange, or green tile (1). In the event of a tie, first check the central board (2): the green and orange Protection tiles each appear twice, while blue does not. Next, check which color Kadhan has the fewest unprotected gems of; it's still green and orange. Following the preference order, Kadhan chooses green. Place the tile on his Workbench and put the loose green gem on it.

Step 2: Make Jewelry

Kadhan does not need to make patterns; as soon as all gemstones and Protection tiles for a Jewelry card are on his Workbench, he makes the jewelry.

1. Place the Jewelry card in the top-left space of his Workbench (space for completed Jewelry cards). Note: Kadhan never receives a Protection tile for making jewelry.
2. All used gemstones without Protection tiles are returned to the ruins. Important: Kadhan always uses gemstones with Protection tiles first, so he returns as few gemstones as possible.
3. If he can make another piece of jewelry, repeat these steps.

Deciding which jewelry Kadhan makes first:

1. First, see if he can make a level 3 piece. If not, check level 2, then level 1.
2. If multiple pieces of the same level can be made:
   • Choose the one worth the most points.
   • Tie? Choose the one using the most gemstones with Protection tiles.
   • Still tied? Choose the piece closest to the Jewelry card draw pile.

Example making Jewelry: Kadhan is making jewelry. For level 3, he doesn't have the right gemstones. For level 2, he can make two cards (1); he chooses the first one because it is closest to the draw pile. The card goes on his Workbench (2), the blue and orange gemstones go back to the supply (3). He checks again. For the first level 1 card (4), he still has everything he needs, so that card also goes on his Workbench (5). Of the gems used, one orange gem was unprotected, so it is returned to the supply (6).

Step 3: Replenishing Jewelry Cards

Fill any empty spaces on the board with Jewelry cards from the appropriate draw pile(s).

End of a Phase

A phase can end in two ways:

• At the start of Kadhan's turn, there's no space on his Workbench - he already has his maximum of 6. In this case, he must pass. Give him the Starting Player token. You continue taking actions until you also pass. The phase then ends.
• You have already passed and received the Starting Player token. Kadhan continues taking turns until he passes (because there's no space left). The phase then ends.

If the just-ended phase was morning (phase 1), midday (phase 2), or afternoon (phase 3), a new phase begins:

1. Place Kadhan's six Workbench cards onto his discard pile.
2. Rotate the sun dial clockwise to the next position (see "Gameplay").
3. Advance the Round tracker one space to the next phase.
4. Reset your Water token to space 15 on your Workbench's water track.

If the just-ended phase was evening (phase 4), night falls and the game ends.

End of the Game

The game ends directly after the evening phase. Score as follows:

• Add up the points from all completed Jewelry cards.
• Earn 1 point per remaining Tool token.
• Earn 1 point per 3 gemstones on your Workbench.
• Earn 1 point if you have the Starting Player token.
• Subtract the points from any Jewelry cards you reserved but did not complete.

Kadhan:

• Scores the points from all completed Jewelry cards.
• Earns 1 point if he has the Starting Player token.
• Earns 1 point per 3 gemstones on his Workbench.

You win if you have more points than Kadhan!

Additional Challenges for the Solo Game

Do you find the standard solo module too easy? Challenge yourself with one of the 10 challenge cards! Defeating Kadhan is no longer enough to win. From now on, you must also complete the challenge(s) before the end of the game! Choose a challenge card yourself or draw one at random. Want to make it even harder? Combine multiple challenges.

Kadhan Awakens: Level 1 Challenges

• You start each round with 14 water instead of 15.
• At the end of the game, you must have crafted at least 4 level 1, 2 level 2, and 1 level 3 Jewelry cards.
• During this game, you are not allowed to reserve Jewelry cards.
• At the end of the game, you must have at least 1 Tool token left.
• At the end of the game, you must have exactly these gems: 1 orange, 1 red, 1 green, 1 blue, and 1 purple.

Wrath of Khadan: Level 2 Challenges

• You start each round with 13 water instead of 15.
• At the end of the game, you must have crafted at least 3 level 1, 2 level 2, and 3 level 3 Jewelry cards.
• During the setup of the game, you do not receive a Start Jewelry card (Kadhan does).
• At the end of the game, you must have at least 2 Tool tokens left.
• At the end of the game, you must have exactly these gems: 1 orange, 2 red, 2 green, 1 blue, and 2 purple.